A/N: Drumroll, please............................
And now, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for waiting so kindly for this beauteous chapter! Read away..
"You two should probably leave so you don't get in trouble for all of this. I'll take all the heat." Cameron and Michael obeyed Patrick's command. Cameron did it because he didn't want to be on bad terms with his girlfriend's sister, and Michael obeyed simply because he was still scared shitless of Patrick.
After they left, Patrick meandered his way through the people scurrying to their cars just to be caught in a line of traffic that snaked throughout the parking lot. He moved his way along the line of cars until he found Kat's. Then he just stood and waited for that furry little creature to do its magic.
~
"I just wish you were still on good terms with Patrick. Then you two and Michael and I could all go see a movie or something together," Mandella said. When she got no reply from Kat, she thought Kat was just in one of her bad moods. She then looked over at a Kat that she didn't recognize.
She was stiff as a board and her eyes were open wide in shock. Mandella panicked. She snapped her fingers in front of Kat's face. "Are you okay? Do you need me to call and ambulance? Kat? What's the matter?" The next thing Mandella knew was that Kat just snapped. She pushed the door open, got put of the car, shaking her head and screeching. Mandella couldn't see why she was acting this way. She had never seen Kat flip out about anything. Maybe it was the stress of being valedictorian that was making her act this way.
~
Kat couldn't get rid of the horrible feeling on the back of her neck. She continued to writhe around, as if doing some sort of tribal dance in the middle of the parking lot. She knew the spider was still there. It was somewhere on her body. She felt itchy everywhere with the small spider legs crawling across her skin. At least it felt as though she was covered in spiders. In her fit of swipes, practically groping herself, she brushed something furry on her lower back. She took another powerful whack at what she knew was the spider. Kat looked down to see what had just been crawling all over her.
Just seeing the sheer size of the tarantula similar to the one she met with in the fifth grade that haunted her nightmares and she was reminded of every time she brushed her long, wavy tresses made her nauseous.
No matter how loud she screamed or how fast she shook, she could not rid her self of the sensation of the arachnid swarming all over her body. Naturally, a crowd soon gathered, with Patrick as an active participant in the loud laughter that boomed horribly in Kat's ears.
She soon realized she was making quite the ass of herself and, wanting to get as far from the spider as possible anyways, made her way to break through the crowd to search blindly for a place to quietly collect herself. She charged towards the nearest part of the crowd, hoping to penetrate the ranks that flocked here only to see Kat humiliate herself publicly. She was caught though. Someone was holding her, not letting her go. She did not want to look up and let whoever it was catch a glimpse at her tearstained face. "Get the hell out of my way!" she shrieked at her harasser.
"What's the matter, Kat?" Patrick asked, feigning sympathy and surprise at her fit.
Instantly realizing who it was, she looked up to see his eyes filled with satisfaction and sparked with malevolence. Without hesitation, she raised her hand to his face, slapping him across the face before he even knew what happened. "You bastard!" She looked at him again, unable to believe that he would do this to her. Then, she thought of what she had done to his car, and she almost felt sorry for him. But not quite. "You are truly repugnant and despicable, do you know that?"
Patrick could feel his face burning at the site of the smack on his cheek. He ignored it and spoke, "It doesn't feel so nice does it, now? Having a trick played on you isn't all that fun. Maybe this will teach you to make sure you cover your ass next time you decide to play a prank." A few "Ooh"s and "Shut down!"s could be heard from the surrounding spectators. "Well, we're even now. So what do you say?" Patrick wrapped his arms around Kat. "Take me back?"
"Take you back?!" Kat raged, tearing his arms from around her body. "Even?! You have got to be kidding me! Joke time is over, Patrick. I damaged your car. You scared me half to death, in front of a huge crowd, mind you! You are completely insane if you think you can walk away from this unscathed."
"But, Kat, you know I love you." He moved in to kiss her. "I was just having some fun."
Once again, Kat whipped out her hand, lashing Patrick's still-red cheek. "Wrong choice of words, jerk-off." Again the crowd emitted remarks rubbing it in Patrick's face that he was just dismissed. "I am completely disgusted with you. I thought you might have known better. I dreamed you might come and talk it out with me." She could feel the tears creeping up from deep behind her eyes. She fought them back, but her voice still faltered slightly. "But I guess I was wrong about you. And I thought I knew you well. You sure fooled me."
Patrick felt horrible. But his testosterone wouldn't have him humiliated in front of this huge group of people. "Oh, so what, now it's all about you?!" he stammered. "It's entirely my fault?! I don't think so. You seem to be forgetting what you did previously..." The crowd began to cheer him on and rub it all in Kat's face. "Oh, would you all just shut the fuck up?!" The crowd almost immediately dispersed, most of them still unsure if Patrick really did eat that live duck or light that state trooper on fire. He turned back to Kat. "Look, I am really sorry. I just didn't think and acted out rashly in retaliation after you wrecked my car. I just.well, I acted like a huge asshole."
Kat turned these statements over and over in her brain. "True, very true. I would really love to forgive you, but I am not going to just pretend that everything is all good and right in the world. I am going to need a little time. You know, it was entirely unnecessary for you to do that in front of all of those people. Public humiliation is not something that usually bothers me. You really must have taken it to the limit for it to actually hurt me. I just need some time alone to think. Maybe you have a chance of being forgiven."
Patrick couldn't take it any longer. Though her answer wasn't a definite 'yes', per say, he had waited too long, hungering for the touch of her sweet lips. He drew her close to him, his lips searching for hers and finally locking, his tongue intertwining with hers.
Kat forgot for a moment all her anger and sadness and lived for the moment, right then and there, loving every millisecond of the kiss. And then, she realized that she could not do this, as much as she wanted to. She broke the kiss and shoved him off of her. "I can't. You know you can't." She felt the anger build up inside her once again, gaining new strength. "You have the most uncanny knack for doing that at the wrong times. Did you ever notice that? Maybe you should work on that. I can't just forget all about everything. I said I would think about it, but now I think you need a taste of your own medicine. Keep on thinking that public humiliation is funny, and once I get back at you, we'll see who is laughing at who!"
"Kat!" Patrick blurted out in disbelief.
"Hey, all's fair in love and war!" She stormed away, re-entering her car and not even noticing that Mandella was still sitting in the passenger's seat and now trying to console her. She did notice, however, Patrick standing in her exhaust smoke, looking distressed and running his fingers through his hair, a habit of his that she missed more and more each time one of them was hurt. She knew that half of the things she said to him back there probably made absolutely no sense. It was getting bad. This all needed to end. But each time one of them was hurt, it became harder and harder to give in and say sorry.
A/N: I hope you liked.more goodness to come.
Special thanks to Shannon and Kevin for being models for the fighting scene (if either of you read this, please refrain from kicking my ass!).
Stay tuned for the next chapter of Patrick and Kat goodness!
Oh, and don't forget to review (because you know you love me!)
Charlotte ;)
